Senses
by MistyDeath
Summary: In which they see something beautiful, hear something magical, smell something amazing, taste the best they've ever had, and touch until they can feel no more.
1. Sight

Senses Writing Challenge – Axel/Roxas

Sight

It was almost omnipresent, Axel thought back, with how bright blonde's hair had been the day he met him. During one of the most dreary, miserable days the Radiant Garden University had ever seen, Axel Hotaru managed to spot a blurring tussle of blonde hair sliding past the café window.

Amongst a world of brown hair and brown eyes, Axel was used to being surrounded by a world of monotony; his family being the sole exception he knew, a full family of angry, bitter redheads. Watching the blonde whizz by created a million and one little rivulets of yellow lighting up the window. He had nearly dropped the order he had to place on top of the customer – whom he noted, should've really had a diet iced tea rather than a mocha Frappuccino.

The moment lasted only seconds, so Axel was quite convinced the weather had gotten to him and caused him to be delirious.

He was nearly blinded at the end of his shift, when said blonde walked into the café and walked up to the counter. Though the (college student? High school student?) was clearly pissed, drenched, and obviously looking for a pick me up, Axel couldn't have thought he was more radiant.

The teen ordered a large hot chocolate with whipped cream, and paid. Once the boy's back was turned, Axel took the opportunity to write his name and number underneath "Lg. Hot. Cocoa w/ W.C." with a note to stay another five minutes.

Filling the order quickly, the redhead hummed as he poured the whipped cream onto the drink, attempting to concoct a design suited for a much fancier café. He then walked over to where the blonde was waiting at the counter, and proceeded to hand the teen the drink, his name and number facing forward.


	2. Hearing

Hearing

Watching Roxas take the drink, he flashed him his nicest smile – the "Lady Killer" as his friend Demyx had coined. The blonde raised an eyebrow (Axel really hoped it wasn't at his hair, he truly hated trying to explain whether or not it was natural to customers), and took the drink, mumbling a quick, "Thank you," to the redhead.

Axel thought that his voice sounded sweet, never mind whether or not his gratitude was sincere, and hoped that somehow, he might actually get a chance to chat with the blonde afterwards.

However, luck, it seemed, was not in his favor. The blonde simply turned around, drink raised to his now smiling face, tongue lapping innocently at the whipped cream in an attempt to get used to the hot drink. The barista frowned, thoroughly disappointed at the results, and once again began to look forward to a boring night after work.

Turning, he noticed no one else was in the café and that his replacement was currently late. Shrugging, he began to lock up the cash register anyway, and put away the apron, which was currently littered with flecked dusts of powdered sugars and other coffee confectionaries. He grabbed his bag from the back, and began fingering the keys to the café that he needed to hand off sooner or later.

A bell sounded, Axel looked up, and was once again blinded.

There was blondie, still drenched, but now sporting a small whipped cream mustache (which Axel could easily imagine himself licking off) and a confused look. "Yes?" He asked in as calm a voice as he could muster.

"Are you Axel?" The barista would later defiantly tell anyone who would listen that he dropped the keys because he tossed them wrong, _not_ because he thought that the blonde saying his name was akin to that of a chorus of a thousand angels. Truly, it was more of a raspy, just barely out of puberty voice, but it worked all the same.

"Mhm. That's me." He leaned over to grab the keys.

"Would you mind explaining to me why you gave me your number?" the blonde asked, holding out the cup for Axel to see, as if he didn't know it was there.

"Well," started Axel, desperately thinking of a sustainably sane reason outside of trying to get into the blonde's pants – _aha_ – "my shift was getting rather boring – actually it's been fucking miserable – and you looked like you were feeling the shitty weather too, thought misery might like some company." He drummed his fingers idly on the counter behind him, stretching himself out a bit while checking out the teen.

Right now he was being faced with a look of incredulity, but luck came back into Axel's favor. The blonde started laughing a little – a noise that Axel wished could ring in his ears forever – and then looked up from the drink.

"Mmm…well yeah. Shit week, bad finals, you know how it is. But um…what did you have in mind and or what can you say within the next minute that will actually make me take you up on your offer?" The blonde's mouth had pulled into a small smirk (still sporting the whipped cream mustache), and tilted his head.

Crap. What did he say now.

"I'm a junior at RGU and president of the EMT club? And…I've got two bottles of New Year's chardonnay back at my apartment and scrabble? " What. The. _Hell_. Was that?

Luck, once again, came in favor for Axel, and, this time, it was on time.

Another raspy laugh, and the smirk turned into a smile. "Well, that was certainly a pick up line I've never heard before…" he paused, rather dramatically in Axel's mind, "but what the hell, I need a break." And now those eyes found his, and he could swear he wanted to drown in those little blue pools of light.

"Great. So, what's your name and what year are you here at RGU?" asked Axel, walking over and leading the blonde towards the door. He could see his replacement running in from around the corner, splashing water every which way in his ridiculous rain boots.

"Roxas, and I'm a sophomore." Axel never did quite achieve the same feeling he'd felt as the first time he heard the blonde's name.


	3. Smell

Smell

Roxas reckoned that he didn't truly appreciate being around Axel until he got into the man's car – something his brother would later reprimand him on ("Who just _gets_ into a stranger's car?"). When he'd first met the redhead, however brief, it had been an array of smells he had gotten used to around the campus – rain, wet hair, and coffee beans.

Once the two had made the small jog around the café into the back parking lot, Roxas had followed Axel towards his car. A respectable Ford Fusion, the car shone brilliantly with the rain hitting it, washing away whatever ice may have accumulated upon the hood.

And then, it hit Roxas like a sucker punch to the face.

The car inside was almost completely empty, and surprisingly without a nick or smudge in the interior. It was almost as if the car had never left the sales lot. However, the new car smell was long gone, replaced by one filled with hints of smoke, Axe ('How punny' mused Roxas), and…roses? Weird.

Axel had begun talking to Roxas, presumably talking a little bit about his life, maybe what he was working on in school or who his friends were. Roxas, however, simply listened without truly listening, exhaling small puffs of cocoa-tinted breath and inhaling as much as he could of Axel's scent in one breath.

It was intoxicating, and he was pretty sure he looked as content as anyone had ever, or would ever, see him.

The redhead led the car down the streets of slush and ever filling potholes to a quaint apartment complex. He turned the car into the lot, parked the car, and then turned to his current…date? Yeah, date.

The blonde has his eyes closed, still holding the now empty cocoa cup between his legs, and was breathing deeply. Was he asleep?

Just as the redhead was about to poke the blonde awake, his eyes fluttered open.

"Are we here? Sorry, was just thinking a bit," he responded, eyes blinking rapidly as if to clear his thoughts away. Axel nodded, and then pointed back out the car towards the building, "C'mon, I don't bite."

The two exited the car, and unbeknownst to Axel, Roxas lamented the loss of comforting scent. And, it was still raining; so now that completely overwhelmed the blonde's nostrils.

Sloshing their way towards the apartment building's stairs, Roxas noticed Axel kept looking back at him. "What?"

The redhead's giant smile came out again. "You're one of those super quiet types that just might kill me, aren't you?"

The teen stopped alongside the man, giving him a rather curious look as he waited for them to be rung in the building. "You say the most disturbed things sometimes. Do you do this to all your dates?" The door was opened, and Axel ushered Roxas inside to escape getting even more drenched.

"No," responded Axel, leading him down a short hallway to a door down the right, "I just figured saying something dramatic would get you to talk. It did." Roxas agreed.

When the door opened, the blonde walked in, surrounded by scents he would soon consider to be home.


	4. Taste

Taste

Roxas and Axel were soon drowned in the feeling of pure bliss provided to them exclusively by spaghetti Bolognese with meatballs, Chardonnay and ridiculously immature words appearing on a scrabble board. The blonde was currently swishing the maroon liquid around in his glass, watching Axel grin wickedly and then fail to cover up with a poker face to place his next word. 'Must be the drinks,' thought Roxas, sipping lightly. He hadn't told Axel that he was only twenty and therefor illegally drinking this, but he had mentioned that he was a college sophomore. Oh well.

The word "balls" was spelled out none-too-delicately next to Roxas' equally immature "suck". He laughed lightly.

"Is that an invitation?"

Another wicked grin was shot his way. "Nope. I'm just fucking hungry," Axel commented, stabbing a meatball and quickly shoving the object into his mouth. A pleasant groan assured Roxas that, yes, his cooking skills had not been lost since coming over from Twilight Town.

Roxas pouted, and then sucked in the pasta piece he'd been holding up. He never stopped looking at the redhead, who apparently found something amusing with his eating skills. "Is something wrong, Mr. I-clearly-can't-take-a-hint?" He mused.

Placing his wine carefully onto the tiny table they had placed between them for the game, Axel leaned over close to Roxas' face.

"You've got a smidgen of sauce," he giggled, "right…_here_." With that, he'd licked a small spot right by Roxas' mouth. Pulling back, Roxas was certain that Axel noticed the small blush he'd had, or the incoming smirk that was making its way clear cross his face.

Roxas quickly forgot about the sole taste of wine mixed in his mouth. He'd gone around the table and carefully attacked the man's face, noting subconsciously where the redhead's glass was. He was rewarded with a combining taste of wine and pasta sauce, which, now that he thought about it, was not the best thing the pair could've chosen to eat for kissing opportunities.

However, Axel did not seem to mind in the slightest, easing back carefully onto the carpet holding the blonde awkwardly to the side. With a few quick movements, Roxas was in his lap, legs wrapped around his waist.

As the blonde's hands started to run up and down his sides, Axel could only relish the savoring flavor of Roxas's mouth as the wine began to get to his head.


End file.
